Bad loan manager Nama is to benefit from the recent sale of a London office block for £67.5m (€76.7m).

Located at 1 King William Street, London EC4, the block was owned by a consortium of investors lead by Paddy Shovlin and Anthony Fitzpatrick who bought it for £80m in August 2006. This was then a record 4.3pc yield for The City finacial services district of London. Last year NAMA appointed GVA as both receivers and sales agents for the property and it was reported that they were expecting a price of less than €60m. The £67.5m price achieved reflects a yield of 5.6pc.

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation has bought the 8,418sqm building which is home to Rothschild's London HQ.

As The City is one of the world's major financial districts it is home to a number of multinational banks, insurance firms and the London Stock Exchange. The property is directly opposite the Bank of England.

Canary

Meanwhile Nama may face a significant challenge from a major London developer, which owns property close to a landmark office tower that Nama wants Derek Quinlan to sell.

The Canary Wharf Group (CWG) has entered exclusive talks with Royal Bank of Scotland to buy more than £150m of debt that backs the Citigroup tower. Nama is believed to hold a further €300m worth of loans related to the tower, which Derek Quinlan and Glenn Maud bought from RBOS with around £1.1bn of debt,

According to Estates Gazette magazine, CWG wants to buy the £150m debt in order to gain a position in negotiations over the future of the building and this could lead to CWG taking control over the tower at 25 Canada Square, London E14.

There is a risk that CWG's move might discourage some prospective buyers who have expressed an interest in acquiring the tower, which Nama wants Quinlan to sell.

However, as Nama is a member of the syndicate of banks holding the debts secured on the tower, it is likely to have a veto on any RBOS/CWG deal should there be any risk that the CWG deal might damage Nama's interests in the value of the loans secured on the tower.